About Nana

My name is Kathleen Lewis and I am the owner of Nana's Sweeties. I am the mother of four
and "Nana" to eight. Two of my grandsons have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum
Disorder and because of that I have seen, first hand, what these weighted sensory items can do.

As parents, our children may someday be faced with a diagnosis that can not be fixed by a pill,
shot or surgery. We first start question "What went wrong?" then "What did we do wrong?"
We start to worry about the future and what it will bring their way. What will we be unable to
protect our children from? What will we be unable to fix?

Through watching the changes in my grandsons, first beginning with their diagnosis, or what
we call "THE LABEL", then to their exposure to Sensory Therapy Integration and
individually designed "Sensory Diets," watching these techniques become part of their
everyday life and watching them grow and evolve. Watching as one Grandson succeeded to
keep all of his squares (perfect behavior in school) until the end of his school day, having an
actual conversation with the other Grandson and then hearing his bedtime prayers and "night
night Nana, I love you".......

All of that drove me to find a way to make the things that help normalize the lives of these two
beautiful little boys, this Nana's "Sweeties."

I have been sewing since I was a child so of course when my Sweeties' Moms started looking into
purchasing the weighted items recommended by their Sensory therapists, I got the "Can you
make this?" phone call. I found the cost of such items extremely high and for the most part the
items were very unattractive and institutional looking. I spent a lot of time fine tuning, altering
patterns and adjusting techniques to end up with products that are functional, durable, well
fitting, easy to launder and FUN.

I am a firm believer that if you want a child to do, wear, or learn something, make it FUN. If
your child loves teddy bears and the color red, don't ask him to wear a blue vest with polka dots
on the inside! If your sweetie is crazy about Barbie Fairy Princess and the color purple than
why not let her lap buddy or weighted throw reflect that. She'll want to use it more. I work very
hard to keep the prices reasonable. I don't buy fabric by the bolt. I have no overhead or
investment to recoup. When I get your order I go out and find the right fabric, be it SpongeBob
Squarepants, Thomas The Tank Engine, Disney™s Mickey Mouse or Tinkerbell, then I start
to sew. Every piece is made especially for your child, and isn't every child "Nana's Sweetie?

If your child's therapist has been encouraging you to add weighted items to your child's
everyday life, their Sensory Diet; I encourage you to do so. Weighted items help to calm and
center a child, to help their brains filter out the unnecessary aspects of their environment, they
make them more aware of their core. To have a child sit quietly through a church service or
story time at school, to behave appropriately in situations that have previously been a challenge.
Adding weighted therapy items to their everyday world can and will make a difference.

Am I a professional seamstress? No. Am I a perfectionist? Hmmmm maybe, well probably.
Each and every piece is custom made to order. Will there be some slight imperfections,
probably. Will your special sweetie love the finished product? Definitely.

Every product, every project, every piece is made carefully to your specifications, and more
importantly, made with the love that only a Nana can understand.